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POPSNurture affects physiology A study at the University of Minnesota is finding that nurture in early childhood really does matter to the physical structure of the brain.
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POPSThe Internet Is a Brain There is a lot we can learn from the brain and it can tell us where the Internet is headed next. There’s nothing magical in the brain (at least that we’ve found thus far), and yet it delivers all our mental capabilities, and emotional ones as well – that’s a very intriguing thought. After all, just as there is no particular reason for this lump inside our heads to appreciate fine wines and music, cry, laugh, reason, love, daydream, and aspire to greater things, there is no reason why silicon or some other fundamental substance (maybe even carbon some day), could not be coaxed into creating something similar.
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POPSWhy you should go with your gut feeling To uncover this ability, Pessiglione and colleague Chris Frith, of University College London, tested 20 volunteers with a simple game based on winning and losing small amounts of money. On a computer screen, the volunteers watched an animated abstract pattern which for a couple of tenths of a second included one of three symbols part way through. Unbeknownst to the subjects, the symbols indicated whether they would lose or gain £1 or break even if they accepted the gamble. Surprisingly, subjects got better at predicting whether they would win or not, eventually plateauing at slightly above chance, strong evidence that volunteers do not consciously notice the symbols but are affected by them nonetheless.
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POPSRobot controlled by own biological brain They used rat neurones. Maybe we'll discover what rats have been thinking, or how the nature of thinking varies from species to species, if and what significant 'character' differences there are. We may even find rats have the potential to be much smarter than we thought they were. The neurons act in response to stimuli. Maybe the best way to describe them is 'curious' It can be fairly certain there will be no official testing with human neurones, but there will be testing. I also wonder if the instinct for self preservation goes that deep - Sounds like the kind of thing that would interest the military.
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POPSScanning the brain in real time Learning to control your own mind. There have been three ways to affect the brain.(for argument's sake) the psychiatrist's couch, the knife, and with medication. Now with the improved MRI technology we can look inside our brain in real time, and affect the way we think. The video wont clip but video lasts for 3min56sec and can be seen following the top link, or is 13.6MB download from the link in the clip (The 'desktop' link works, itunes seems only to be a download from the site)
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POPSBoredom a sickness or a creative tool? "In experiments in the 1970s, psychiatrists showed that participants completing word-association tasks quickly tired of the job once obvious answers were given; granted more time, they began trying much more creative solutions" "In a recent paper in The Cambridge Journal of Education, Teresa Belton and Esther Priyadharshini of East Anglia University in England reviewed decades of research and theory on boredom, and concluded that it’s time that boredom “be recognized as a legitimate human emotion that can be central to learning and creativity.”
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POPSGranddaughter has Brain Surgery July 17, 2008...my granddaughter had brain surgery to rid her of seizures that she has been having for the last 4 years...they got so bad she wasn't able to go to school. Her medication could not keep them under control. It all started out as what everyone though was a cold or the flu...she contracted viral encephalitis , they don't know how or why. All I could think of to do at the time was ask everyone to pray for her and that's how the story ended up on MySpace... Except for one seizure last Tuesday, she seems to be doing well... :)
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POPSSleepiness can make you sound drunk I'm not sure so much that the sleepy are unaware, as they don't care that they slur. Speaking clearly can take energy and concentration. When overtired, the brain refuses to go to that much trouble. Speaking can often be an afterthought.
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POPSMagnet puts tongue in the drivers seat The nerve in the tongue is directly connected to the brain, and is one of the things that is least likely to be damaged in spinal cord injuries. Considering the way people can talk, it is likely to be as, or more maneuverable than the hands. The phrase 'Actions speak louder than words' could take on a whole new meaning.
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POPSTechnology unlocks the silent mind They can detect the answer to a yes/no question, from the scans of healthy volunteers. This technique could the terms used to determine the nature of unconscious states, and will help define more accurately the chances of recovery. In many cases it may be a chance for someone who was apparently vegetative state to resume active communication with the outside world.
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POPSSubneural Networks in the Quantum Brain Basically, the neuron or nerve cell, and its synapses is no longer seen as fundamental but as container for smaller structures, notwithstanding the importance of synaptic connectivity.
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POPSScientists probe the memory of bees The clip suggests that bees brain wiring is divided in a way that is reminiscent of the hemispheres in the human brain. From what I remember, bees had brains long before humans, so perhaps it is the other way around
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POPSBrain drug abuse on the radar 
They restrict the damage that is caused by this kind of drug, in a similar way to the way they have restricted the damage caused by addictive drugs in the present, and the past. One dangerous side effect of 'stay alert' or 'thought accelerators' is that often they can be taken at the expense of the minimum required amount of sleep (which can vary from person to person.) Sleep is necessary for our brains to operate properly, and they've yet been able to find any cases where it can be compromised to any great extent. Sleep deprivation can lead to delusion and psychosis, poor concentration, and performance, and both short and long term memory loss. A bad combination. Where too many 'flashes of brilliance' are really just flashes. By the way. Who is going to test these drugs. Perhaps we'll have some smart monkeys that will unify Einstein's 'Grand Universal Theory' for us. I'm sure they'd find it much easier to be objective. (Douglas Adams told us what happens when you have smart mice
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POPSMultidimensional space through art Generally for the sake of the illusion of 3 Dimensions and perspective. There are plenty of artists beside Escher that represent multidimensional space, but he does a particularly good job of it. The last stereogram at the bottom is the thinker. I ran out of characters. (you can always go to the site.) Stereograms can be annoying sometimes when you can't see what it is, and everyone else can. It can be like that, then suddenly one day a picture can jump out. It can help if you know what you're looking for. One problem with these may be looking too hard, when the eyes are probably better off relaxing.
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POPSIncubator fields affect baby's heart rate. The heart ? No doubt it is going to be affected, but the brain seems like it is more at risk. The brain runs at a very low frequency - between 0, and 25 Hz in a natural state -compared to MHz, and kHz for radio, and GHz for a cpu, but as with the chords in music, a frequency higher up the scale can, amplify a note it harmonizes with somewhere else on the scale. Maybe there is a link between incubator EMR. and ADHD. A kid may not need Ritlin, they might need a tune up. If you want to know more about brain frequencies, wikki has a good summary in electroencephalograpy. Below is the url : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroencephalography#Wave_patterns
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POPSPraise or cash? Your brain doesn't care. If compliments don't work try flattery. Cash as a last resort. Praise is a lot more economical, and often a lot more productive. The main complication - anyone can pay cash, paying compliments can be a fine art.
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POPSGamers show Aspbergers traits They are not suggesting that aspbergers syndrome is caused by gameplay, but the similar symptoms may give researchers new insight into the mechanism of autism. No doubt the brain of a game player is having particular specific sections of the brain reinforced by the game play, leaving other areas to atrophy. The biggest difference may be, that the thoughts of an aspberger's syndrome sufferer can be a complete mystery. If you want to know what a gamer is thinking, you just have to watch them play the game.
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POPSSydney's stressed brains are shrinking There was another conclusion suggested for the reason those subjects from Melbourne had more 'grey matter' than those from Sydney, which was that the brains of Sydneysiders had eliminated unnecessary neural pathways, connections and links, so making their brains more efficient. There was also the possibility considered that another reason for the differences, is that Sydney brains were too mature to spend too much time thinking about sport. They didn't need as large an amount of gray matter to remember football scores.
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